Day of
Suspicions
by Duane Bishop
Jill and Sam
Overwhat were enjoying their balcony view of the
great Mediterranean Sea. It was about 7:00 am
when they got onto the balcony. We were still in
our robes enjoying our freshly brewed coffee and
sharing a fruit plate, ahh what a wonderful
morning it had turned out to be.
“Today is
great, with beautiful sunshine, gorgeous calm
seas, and a warm breeze,” said Sam.
Around 7:15 am
Max Rundoff, the Captain of our cruise ship
Celebrity made an ominous announcement.
Captain
Rundoff's broadcast started with the words;
everyone pay attention. It appears that two
terrorists have boarded our ship. Our staff is
attempting to locate and apprehend these two
terrorists before anything dreadful can happen.
Our ship is currently in lockdown.
All passengers
must stay in their cabins with their doors locked.
Captain Rundoff repeated himself one more time,
please stay in your cabins until we make another
announcement when our security team has resolved
the situation.
Across the
hall from Overwhat’s cabin were their best
friends Ann and Bill Similar. With willful
disregard for what the captain’s orders were,
Jill and Sam ran out of their cabin and started
pounding on the Similar’s door.
Ann and Bill
hesitantly opened their door to the surprise of
seeing us. They brought us in rapidly and locked
the door tightly behind us.
The four of us
all started to share our fears and concerns.
Sam and Bill
were active CIA agents. Sam was Bill's boss.
Neither man had been this close to the start of a
situation before, but this was very familiar
territory for them.
Now everyone
on the ship was anxiously waiting to see if we
were going to be safe or still under this waiting
game stress. At once, the ship intercom had a
second announcement.
Everyone on
the ship was praying and hoping for an
announcement that these terrorists had been
caught and the lockdown was over.
No, this
announcement was letting all the passengers know
that Captain Rundoff believed that these two men
had taken over a large part of the onboard
security and communication systems.
This new
announcement from Captain Rundoff was very
carefully phrased regarding the communication
center being taken over. Captain Rundoff said
that no more onboard announcements would be made
for quite some time.
With no new
info and now it was early afternoon, Sam and Bill
were getting restless. Sam and Bill decided to
defy Captain Rundoff’s orders and escape
their cabin and see what they could do.
The
communication center was located on the tenth
floor forward and was not usually the most secure
area of the ship. Bill brought up the idea of how
easy it was to gain access. With a bit of careful
thinking about this plan, they could sneak
through a small corridor, up a short set of
stairs, and investigate the communication center
without getting caught.
Bill and Sam
were off toward the communication center. Bill
was first through to the small window peering
into it.
After
monitoring the communication room for about five
minutes, Sam saw no one and decided to enter. Sam
and Bill entered the communication center and
observed a small amount of computer wiring out of
place but no other apparent problems.
With much
trepidation, Bill decided to place a call to the
bridge. Placing this call was a very bold thing
to do, they were defying direct orders. Bill was
hoping that this victory of knowledge about the
communication center might help with the message
of where Sam and I were and what we had
accomplished.
Regardless,
the call was placed and accepted on the bridge.
Bill introduced himself and Sam on the phone to
the captain and staff. They both identified
that they were CIA agents. They also explained
that they were not part of the terrorist group
and that we were there to assist your team in any
way we could.
The bridge was
shocked that the communication center was empty.
They seemed confused about what might be going on
and where these two terrorists were.
Sam and Bill
were both given orders to appear on the bridge.
We both showed up in about seven minutes and were
prepared to feel the wrath of Captain Rundoff.
Captain
Rundoff was upset at us but more interested in
trying to figure out the predicament that his
ship was in.
As everyone on
the bridge was finally talking about this
situation, Bill asked a simple question.
Can you tell
us how, where, and when were the terrorists
discovered?
Captain
Rundoff looked over to Andrew, one of his junior
officers, and asked him to explain what he
observed that morning to all on the bridge.
Andrew began
to tell all of us that he had observed. Andrew
said that he was doing his 3:00 am rounds and
monitoring the ship's cameras as a part of his
duty.
Andrew
continued, this morning it was very foggy, and
looking at his aft camera when he observed two
people on the starboard aft that looked highly
suspicious. Andrew said that they appeared to
have long rifles and hoodies.
Andrew
explained that he had made a report and had never
actually seen anyone boarding, no weapons, and
nothing other than his suspicion started this
report.
Immediately
Captain Rundoff’s expression changed, and a
smile came to his face. Captain Rundoff set back
in his chair and said, we were not dealing with
two terrorists, but we boarded two clowns from
off a pilot boat early this morning for our
morning show. They were not guns but were props
for today's show.
Captain
Rundoff made a joyous announcement to all the
passengers. This message allowed everyone full
access to the ship, and everyone was relieved and
went down to eat.
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